Where does problem solving start? The ready answer is that it starts with a problem. And much
of the time this is true: From potholes
to pollution, the world’s challenges
often insistently make themselves
known. But sometimes problems aren’t
so obvious. Researchers who study
problem solving have pointed out that
good problem solvers are often good
problem finders: They see the world
in terms of problems to be fixed and
find opportunities for solutions where
others may not. 1

Problem finding is important, but
it’s possible to go back even further
in the search for the roots of problem
solving. Regardless of whether a
problem is obvious or hidden, the
impetus to engage with it starts with a
sense of agency—a sense that it’s possible to reshape the way things are by
directing one’s actions purposefully.
This may seem so basic as to not be
worth mentioning. But if educators
want to cultivate problem solving at
the foundational level, it’s important to
ask how this sense of agency develops.
Over the last five years, we and our
colleagues at Project Zero2 have had